Company Briefs: Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is poised to take full control of Tiger Airways, with its general offer - for shares in the budget carrier it does not already own - closing yesterday.

The offer, launched on Nov 6, had already crossed the takeover threshold, with SIA controlling 95.6 per cent of Tigerair as of Feb 26, the national carrier said. Shareholders who have not responded to SIA's offer will receive a letter on the compulsory acquisition of their shares in due course.

ComfortDelGro Corp

Transport giant ComfortDelGro Corp's London unit Metroline has been named Bus Operator of the Year at the 2016 London Transport Awards.

The awards were held at the Lancaster Hotel on Thursday, and Metroline was said "to be consistently very good for reliability and it comfortably beats its target". Metroline, which is London's second-largest bus firm, operates a fleet of 1,700 buses plying routes mainly in North, West and Central London and Hertfordshire. It runs over 18 per cent of London's scheduled bus mileage.

Yanlord Land Group

China property developer Yanlord Land Group's credit profile has improved after a strong operating performance last year, said Moody's Investors Service. The reasons include its strong sales execution, prudent spending on land and prudent management of debt.

"Yanlord's contracted sales increased significantly by 227 per cent to 28.9 billion yuan (S$6.1 billion) in 2015, reflecting the company's strong brand name and improving market sentiment in the higher-tier cities in which it operates," said Moody's analyst Dylan Yeo. He also noted that Yanlord improved its collections of cash from contracted sales and with lower land premium payments, this led to a stronger liquidity position at the end of 2015.

Backed by strong liquidity, Yanlord's debt fell by 8 per cent to 18.3 billion yuan at the end of 2015. Coupled with a 41 per cent improvement in revenue recognition to 16.6 billion yuan, this led to a big gain in the firm's key credit metrics.

Moody's believes Yanlord's contracted sales will likely remain robust this year, because the company operates mainly in higher-tier cities that have healthy underlying economic strength and strong urbanisation trends. The ratings agency also believes in its appeal to increasingly affluent home upgraders because of its strong brand name and quality products.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 05, 2016, with the headline 'CompanyBriefs'. Print Edition | Subscribe

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